PLUMSTED – There was a lot to crow about with the return of New Egypt Day that filled Sgt. David Southard Plaza, (Clock Tower) on Main Street.
Various local organizations attended, including Girl Scout Troop 21072 and Boy Scout Troop 19, whose members were passing out samples of monkey bread during the day.
There was a petting zoo present. Vintage cars were on display and the Bible Baptist Church that won this year’s Memorial Day Parade float contest was promoting special events while the Hornerstown Baptist Church provided information about their parish.
There was a caged fight match going on as entertainment and there were vendors selling items ranging from stuffed animals to charms and goat milk soap. You could also enjoy a hot dog, pretzel and cold drink from a hot dog cart.
Part of the goal of New Egypt Day was to honor some of the community’s rich history and this year that was represented by the Horner family who had a table selling a T-shirt designed by Dawn Reynolds that noted an important and also humorous adventure that involved a rooster.
The white T-shirts note in red and blue writing, that there is “Freedom to Crow in New Egypt.” Decades ago the family experienced an unusual occurrence when a neighbor within their rural neighborhood complained about their rooster crowing in the morning and brought them to court.
The judge decided to have the case put into mediation but roosters don’t often cooperate with edicts about when to crow. The legal issue exploded into a full-blown examination of the township’s rural zone, a rooster’s right to crow and the handling of the matter by the judge.
The New Egypt Press, a weekly newspaper based on Main Street that operated for more than 100 years covered the story extensively and even ran a contest to name the rooster. The bird, owned by Jean and Clifford Horner got attention not only in print but on a state wide radio station and became known as “Justice.”
“My mom and I are going to be writing a children’s book about how a small town came together to allow a rooster to crow,” their daughter said. The case had concluded with Justice prevailing as the neighbor who signed the complaint didn’t even show up in court.
“We’ve been here in Plumsted for 10 generations,” Jean Horner proudly said.
“When the judge said I know what the pecking order is around here, I knew we had it in the bag,” Clifford Horner remarked.
“The whole town came together for that whole thing,” Jean Horner added.
In honor of that saga, a rooster crowing contest was held with categories for children and adults. Mayor Dominick Cuozzo called upon the crowd to come forward to do their best imitation of a rooster crowing in what he hopes will be regular contest every New Egypt Day.
Easily winning the adult contest was Shauna O’Brien who put her voice and lungs into the effort. The children’s category had 7-year-old Andrew Riskalla and Gunner Myhre, son of Township Business Administrator and 9th District Assemblyman Greg Myhre tied at first place. The kids won a certificate for free ice cream at a local ice cream parlor in town and adults received a free T-shirt from the Horners who have the rights to the design and shirts.
The Plumsted Municipal Drug and Alcohol Alliance was giving out items for people to keep their beverages cool during the very warm day but their most important item was literature that brought awareness to addiction support services.
The Alliance promotes the health and wellbeing of the residents of the community through the reduction or elimination of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and spearheads community involvement, collaborations, education, public awareness activities, sharing of resources and delivery of quality programs.
Also present were members of the Plumsted Trap, Neuter and Return Committee (TNR). The organization was accepting donations of blankets, canned dry cat foot, unwanted traps and cat carriers. The group provides cost effective and humane methods of controlling the feral cat population in Plumsted.
They raise funds for low-cost spaying/neutering, food, shelter and community education. “What we do is trap the cats that run wild, vaccinate them, get them fixed and return them where we found them and we track the population. We could always use donations because the cost is not free to get them fixed. We try and cover what we can,” a TNR representative said. For further information e- mail plumstedtwptnr@aol.com or visit plumstedtnr.org
The Plumsted Township Library was promoting its Friends of the Library sponsored book sale that ran later in the month as well as some upcoming library programs. The Plumsted Library is located at 119 Evergreen Road.
The weather couldn’t have been better for the recently held event that also coincided on the weekend of lacrosse tournaments held at the athletic fields behind the New Egypt Primary School.
The Recreation Youth Soccer League also wrapped up their spring season that morning at the field across from the Dr. Gerald Woehr Elementary School.
“These are the kindergarten boys’ team. The spring and fall are separate seasons. In the spring our entire league we had about 250 players and with kindergarten boys we had about 20 players and that was the same for kindergarten girls. We have a lot of teams and a lot of fun,” Coach Jamie Meroney said.
She added, “Third grade and up – they play other leagues. Under third grade we play inhouse amongst ourselves and then they play each other. Our registration just started for the fall.” Her husband, Police Chief and Board of Education member Earl Meroney also coaches as part of the Recreation Department program.
